Jimmy and Anna descended to the underworld. Their trip was short, and easy.

Just like Eni had promised, kissing the big, patty lips of a mermaid was a fun experience. Anna got a bit carried away and fondled Almara's nipple-lacking breasts, but there was no harm done. She just liked boobs.

Anyway, as they were led across the river, they were greeted by the shapeshifters. Jimmy did a general head-count, and was relieved to see that the dinosaurs didn't kill any more of the shapeshifters.

The prior funeral three weeks ago was horrifying. People died, and he had to jerk off in order to get out of here, and deal with the war across the grasslands.

Anna ignored the warm greeting from the shapeshifters all together, and walked past them. She shook away some of the water that had accumulated on her fur clothes, and looked at the jungle.

"Beautiful," She held her breath in, "Where are the dinosaurs?"

"Jones is keeping them away," Almara said, as she had followed her guest, just in case any sort of danger arose. "He saved our asses plenty of times over already. I can admit that much."

"He did too good of a job," She said, "I hope that apex predators don't see the general fear the dinosaurs developed over your lake, as a challenge. Dinosaurs can be very territorial."

"What?" Almara blurted.

"Nothing," She sighed, "Take me to the dinosaurs."

"Wouldn't you be more comfortable if Jimmy joined us?" Almara asked, and was a bit put off by the guest's frantic nature. "I know I'd be. He can kill dinosaurs with his mind."

"Right," She said, and looked back, "Oh, there he is."

Jimmy was occupied. For one thing, he was surrounded by the shapeshifters as if he was a celebrity. They treasured him no doubt.

Other than that, he was trying to talk to his 'twin brother' Jones.

"How are our friends treating you, brother?" He asked.

"Fine, brother," Jones nodded, "The lake is starting to feel like a second home to me. It's a shame I can't swim as well as our friends, though."

With the bunker gone, Jimmy felt a little bit weirder talking to a clone of himself. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something odd about the timing, in regards to both Jones, and the clone of himself that Jurassic Jesus possessed, being created before the bunker blew up.

The remaining clones seemed like a fragment of a greater time to him, a time, fairly a short while ago, where he had a great set of technology at his disposal. He was weirded out, but he tried not to let it show.

"Are the ladies treating you well?" He asked, "It has to be hard being around naked people all day if you're not getting any."

"I'd like to say that my skills with the ladies are strong, but Laylania grabbed me on my first day here." Jones chuckled, "She can be… very passionate."

"I figured," He smiled, "She'd do anything to keep her people safe. I know that much."

Anyway, Jimmy and Anna quickly figured out that the shapeshifters weren't exaggerating. They were doing alright, there weren't any big, or small dinosaurs for that matter, by at least three hundred feet, or a hundred meters within the vicinity of the lake.

Jimmy found this quite impressive, because the lake itself was massive. It would take a lot of exercised caution to keep every corner of the lake, borders that were exposed to the reach of the jungle, clear from creatures. He assumed that small animals would come and try to drink water here, but he didn't see a thing. Even the birds, perhaps the most interesting evolutionary stamp of this place, were nowhere near the lake.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say a big predator was approaching." He said.

"That's what I said," Anna added, "Kind of."

Afterwards, he turned to Jones, and said, "Stay here and keep an eye on the lake. I have the feeling that a random, big ass dinosaur is going to attack. Dinosaurs, especially the predators, aren't as random as you may think. They're highly territorial."

"I've noticed," Jones remarked, "Don't worry about the lake. I have plenty of mana on me, and I'm not afraid to use it."

Interested, Jimmy asked, "Have your skills gotten better recently? I discovered that when I use my magic too much, I get better at it, if you get what I mean?"

"Yes," Jones nodded, "I'm confident I can kill a Fatt-neck… granted, it'll blow my mana out of the water."

"Wow…" Almara's face froze just slightly, "You guys even talk the same. I never noticed that before."

"Well, he's my brother," Jones smiled, "You can say we share almost everything… granted, I can't remember much of my childhood."

Jimmy noticed that this conversation could go south quite easily. He was even a little bit intimidated.

'Isn't it enough that I have to walk around egg shells to a guy who can stop my heart in a blink?' He thought, 'Now this bastard's getting smart too? I didn't design him that way.'

As his mind raged through the potential risks, he stayed calm, and expressed, "We'll be going now, brother. Your cousin Anna wants to look at the dinosaurs, and we might even visit the famous city Laylania mentioned."

"Be careful out there," Jones said, "Some dinosaurs won't wait around for you to tickle their heart. Oh, and also, scorpions."

"Scorpions?" He whined like an agitated puppy, "I fucking hate those things! How big are they?"

"Quite small," Jones said, "Steer clear from bushes. They loved hiding in those."

"I'll stay clear of them alright," He said, "I'm finding an Alliesaurus Frederick, a Gutaxun 2.0 if you will. I'm not planning on walking in this shit-show."

"Allie… Frederick?!" Anna exclaimed, "You mean Allosaurus Fragilis, right?"

"Probably," He started stretching.

"Jesus Christ," She smacked her forehead lightly, rubbed her eye, and said, "Alright, let's go."

…

The jungle, stashed away in the underworld, in the Jurassic Era and all the mystery it included, was in its right, dense.

Right past the lake, it was an absolute hassle to walk through the jungle without risking one's life. There were no pathways, no such thing as a clearing, and so every step they took was riddled with fear, and extremely exercised caution.

Jimmy had steel-toe boots on, and yet he was scared he'd get bit. He wouldn't be surprised if venomous snakes were common here too. He did not want to spend an afternoon pushing venom out of his veins. He was experienced enough to know that venom burned like a motherfucker.

One hundred meters, or three hundred feet past the lake, animals of any sort began to become more common.

Jimmy did step on one of the scorpions, undoubtedly by accident, but he was not stung. Its mere stinger was nearly not powerful enough to pierce through his shoes.

"Guhuhuhoh," He shuddered, "Damned murder bug."

"Still scared of bugs, huh?" Anna stretched out a faint smile.

"Of course I am!" He exclaimed, "I was practically butt-fucked by them, behind the mountain. The fuckers there were cat sized."

"What's a cat?" Almara asked.

"It's a short animal, furry like a river fucker or whatever you call them," Jimmy answered.

"Oh…" She sighed, "Like a rock collector? You know, snappers hate them… or, the crocodiles, as you call them."

"Because they can't catch the river fuckers?" He asked, referring to otters.

"No, well, yes, but also because the rock collectors keep dipping out of the water, just to throw rocks at the crocodiles, hehe." Almara explained, "We love watching them."

"I bet," Anna chimed in.

Being completely lost, or uncaring towards the local, or even scientific names of animals at this point, she added, "Let's try and stay focused. I'm sure there's plenty of jungle crocodiles down here who'd love to butt-fuck us. Keep your eyes open."

The three of them sunk deeper into the jungle. As the songs of birds broke out, they started relaxing a little bit. Birds sang if the area was clear of big predators, and the team of three knew that much.

Granted, Jimmy was still paranoid because he didn't want to get stung by a scorpion, or any other God Forsaken insect that bore venom.

Jimmy tried to focus, and keep an ear out for bigger heartbeats. They didn't come out here to hunt, and he didn't intend to hunt, but he really wanted to get his legs, and whole body for that matter, away from the ground.

The density of the surrounding trees was another issue. Jimmy was almost sure that snakes were hiding in the trees, but he tried not to think about that right now. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

After about fifteen more minutes, he did hear a loud heartbeat.

"Well, shit," He froze in his spot, not sure what to do next. "That fucker is either as big as Rampage, or is twenty feet…"